SPECIAL CARE INFORMATION FOR TEACUP & TINY TOYS
In addition to the Puppy Care information page, we would like to address some special instructions for tiny teacup and toy puppies. Always consider your puppy as a newborn baby, as it will need all the love, care and attention that you would give a newborn baby. Here are some helpful suggestions:
1) Don't leave your baby unattended for extended lengths of time, until your baby has totally acclimated himself/herself to its new home:
Long periods of time left alone in a new, strange environment may cause anxiety and additional stress. You will want to be with your baby as much as possible in the first few weeks.
One new puppy owner received her tiny tiny baby (who was all happy and joyful) until the new owner went to work the next morning. When she got home that evening after being away from her baby for over 8 hours, the new baby had crashed and was in a hypoglycemia state. New babies must have mother or father's undevoted attention until they are comfortable in their new home;
2) Prepare a comfortable WARM place for puppy to consider its own home. You may want to invest in a heat pad; set it on LOW; and make sure puppy cannot get to the cord. You may only need a little additional warmth for several days. Nice warm bed and blankets are a nice addition so they can be cozy.
3) Always have food and water for your puppy available at anytime. For the first week or so, make sure your puppy gets whatever he/she wants to eat. There may be a time period where your puppy will not want to eat at all, but don't let this happen. If need be, spoon feed your puppy every couple of hours some a/d (a prescription soft food with high protein by Science Diet) and some yogurt (plain with live cultures). Then gently pursuade puppy to eat some cooked chicken, or the "meatballs" or anything that he/she finds to be encouraged to eat. Chicken Soup for Puppies in a canned form or Pedigree for Puppies seems to be one of their favorites. We've also tried little Cesars tiny meals, and some of the other tiny canned foods. There will come a time when puppy will begin to eat more and more of his/her hard kibble, but for a period of time you need to "baby" your puppy. Always make sure your puppy is eating about every 4 hours during the day and then follow up with Nutrical.
4) Nutrical will also encourage your puppy's appetite. Make sure you are using your Nutrical: a.m., noon, p.m. and before bedtime. If need be, increase your supplement to more times during the day if puppy is not eating or drinking well. Again, we recommend that you also have a good Microbiotic for your puppy to help stimulate and boost its immune system, such as: Benebac or FasTrack (by Conklin - www.conklin.com)
5) Water -- make sure it is bottled for the 1st 2 weeks and then gradually wean your puppy off the bottled water onto the water you have in your home. Water can be a definite detriment to your puppy's system when changing from one water source to the next.
6) Play time and Rest time: Make sure you spend lots of quality time with your baby. Play should be limited to 10-15 minutes. A worn out puppy will quickly crash with hypoglycemia as it has exhausted its energy supply. Make sure you allow your puppy to have plenty of rest. Babies usually eat and sleep during the first 3 months of life -- your puppy is no different. It will require plenty of food/water and plenty of rest.
7) Hypoglycemia -- should your puppy show signs of hypoglycemia: lethargic, loss of appetite, droopy, tail tucked, drooling, limp, seizure fits. Apply some Karo syrup to the gums, wait for puppy to respond and if able, lick the Nutrical. Give several Nutrical dabs until puppy is regaining a normal composure. If the puppy is in a drooling, limp or seizure state, you should get the puppy to the vet. However, if the puppy is eating, drinking and you are following the above recommendations, your puppy should not ever end up in this state.
8) If the puppy needs veterinarian attention, please make sure you find a small animal doctor. We would hope you can find one that has a length of experience with tiny teacup puppies. There are many veterinarians who do not know the first thing about these tiny tiny puppies. I have had some vets suggest that if a puppy cannot eat the hard kibble, it is not a healthy dog. UNTRUE. These tiny ones are a whole new situation unlike a Cocker Spaniel, Collie, Labrador....puppies. We have been raising puppies since 1985, as well as gaining information from fellow professional breeders who have dealt with toys for many more years than us. Our instructions for you and your baby, have been researched and practiced for many years.
One thing is you should have your vet check for coccidiosis. Your puppy will more than likely break with coccidiosis under hypoglycemia conditions. The trip, new environment, new people, new home, new everything can cause coccidiosis to break in your puppy. We treat the puppies before they leave with a special formula of Albon and Metronidazole in hopes that the puppy will not experience any healthy issues, but with our tiny tiny ones it may happen anyway. We suggest your vet use Albon as a treatment for at least 7 - 10 days.
We would suggest that your puppy not remain at the vet's office unless absolutely necessary, because you are introducing your new baby into another new environment, new people, new everything again which adds even more stress to your puppy. Ask your vet what you can do to stabilize the puppy and if your vet will show you what procedures to follow to help your puppy regain its health. If your baby can be with you, this will be the best solution. As a new mother, you need to make sure that you consider the proper decisions to alleviate any unwarranted stress as possible. If the vet feels that IVs are necessary, please have them consider SQ method if possible, which would be less stressful. You and your vet will need to make the decisions together. If you puppy is left in the care of the veterinarian and his/her staff, find out if someone will be caring for the baby personally; if food will be spoon-fed to your baby should it not want to eat; visit the location where your baby will be cared for (is it a warm, cozy comfortable place?) Do everything possible to insure your baby gets as good as care as if you were there.
Please have your veterinarian and staff feed your puppy a/d along with yogurt if possible; also a good microbiotic such as Benebac or FastTrack is a MUST. This will help your puppy regain its strength and vitality much quicker and keep the digestive system running smoothly.
9) PLEASE EMAIL ME OR CALL ME IF A SITUATION ARISES. I will do my best to follow through with all the help I can provide to help you and your veterianarian care for your new baby.
We want you to seriously consider the choice of one of our tiny teacups or toys. They may only weigh 1/2 to 1 # at 8 weeks of age. We will usually keep them longer than the 8 weeks, when most puppies are ready to go to new homes. Please be patient with waiting for your puppy. Our veterinarian will help us make decisions on the appropriate times that the tiny teacups or toys are ready to travel to their new homes. We will do our very best to make sure that your puppy is sound and in good health to survive its trip and reconditioning to its new home. However, should your baby experience some of the above problems, it will be necessary for you and your veterinarian to work closely together through the issues of hypoglycemia. We have found that transporting a baby back to us is not the appropriate means to pursue as it only adds extreme stress to an already stressed puppy. NOT GOOD!!
THESE PREMIUM TINY TEACUPS AND TINY TOYS ARE EXTREMELY CUTE, LOVABLE AND A PERFECT POCKET-PUPPIES -- BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO TAKE CARE OF ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES. ONCE MATURED, THEY ARE AS DURABLE AS ANY OTHER PUPPY. BUT THEY ARE THE PREMIES!!!
In addition to the Puppy Care information page, we would like to address some special instructions for tiny teacup and toy puppies. Always consider your puppy as a newborn baby, as it will need all the love, care and attention that you would give a newborn baby. Here are some helpful suggestions:
1) Don't leave your baby unattended for extended lengths of time, until your baby has totally acclimated himself/herself to its new home:
Long periods of time left alone in a new, strange environment may cause anxiety and additional stress. You will want to be with your baby as much as possible in the first few weeks.
One new puppy owner received her tiny tiny baby (who was all happy and joyful) until the new owner went to work the next morning. When she got home that evening after being away from her baby for over 8 hours, the new baby had crashed and was in a hypoglycemia state. New babies must have mother or father's undevoted attention until they are comfortable in their new home;
2) Prepare a comfortable WARM place for puppy to consider its own home. You may want to invest in a heat pad; set it on LOW; and make sure puppy cannot get to the cord. You may only need a little additional warmth for several days. Nice warm bed and blankets are a nice addition so they can be cozy.
3) Always have food and water for your puppy available at anytime. For the first week or so, make sure your puppy gets whatever he/she wants to eat. There may be a time period where your puppy will not want to eat at all, but don't let this happen. If need be, spoon feed your puppy every couple of hours some a/d (a prescription soft food with high protein by Science Diet) and some yogurt (plain with live cultures). Then gently pursuade puppy to eat some cooked chicken, or the "meatballs" or anything that he/she finds to be encouraged to eat. Chicken Soup for Puppies in a canned form or Pedigree for Puppies seems to be one of their favorites. We've also tried little Cesars tiny meals, and some of the other tiny canned foods. There will come a time when puppy will begin to eat more and more of his/her hard kibble, but for a period of time you need to "baby" your puppy. Always make sure your puppy is eating about every 4 hours during the day and then follow up with Nutrical.
4) Nutrical will also encourage your puppy's appetite. Make sure you are using your Nutrical: a.m., noon, p.m. and before bedtime. If need be, increase your supplement to more times during the day if puppy is not eating or drinking well. Again, we recommend that you also have a good Microbiotic for your puppy to help stimulate and boost its immune system, such as: Benebac or FasTrack (by Conklin - www.conklin.com)
5) Water -- make sure it is bottled for the 1st 2 weeks and then gradually wean your puppy off the bottled water onto the water you have in your home. Water can be a definite detriment to your puppy's system when changing from one water source to the next.
6) Play time and Rest time: Make sure you spend lots of quality time with your baby. Play should be limited to 10-15 minutes. A worn out puppy will quickly crash with hypoglycemia as it has exhausted its energy supply. Make sure you allow your puppy to have plenty of rest. Babies usually eat and sleep during the first 3 months of life -- your puppy is no different. It will require plenty of food/water and plenty of rest.
7) Hypoglycemia -- should your puppy show signs of hypoglycemia: lethargic, loss of appetite, droopy, tail tucked, drooling, limp, seizure fits. Apply some Karo syrup to the gums, wait for puppy to respond and if able, lick the Nutrical. Give several Nutrical dabs until puppy is regaining a normal composure. If the puppy is in a drooling, limp or seizure state, you should get the puppy to the vet. However, if the puppy is eating, drinking and you are following the above recommendations, your puppy should not ever end up in this state.
8) If the puppy needs veterinarian attention, please make sure you find a small animal doctor. We would hope you can find one that has a length of experience with tiny teacup puppies. There are many veterinarians who do not know the first thing about these tiny tiny puppies. I have had some vets suggest that if a puppy cannot eat the hard kibble, it is not a healthy dog. UNTRUE. These tiny ones are a whole new situation unlike a Cocker Spaniel, Collie, Labrador....puppies. We have been raising puppies since 1985, as well as gaining information from fellow professional breeders who have dealt with toys for many more years than us. Our instructions for you and your baby, have been researched and practiced for many years.
One thing is you should have your vet check for coccidiosis. Your puppy will more than likely break with coccidiosis under hypoglycemia conditions. The trip, new environment, new people, new home, new everything can cause coccidiosis to break in your puppy. We treat the puppies before they leave with a special formula of Albon and Metronidazole in hopes that the puppy will not experience any healthy issues, but with our tiny tiny ones it may happen anyway. We suggest your vet use Albon as a treatment for at least 7 - 10 days.
We would suggest that your puppy not remain at the vet's office unless absolutely necessary, because you are introducing your new baby into another new environment, new people, new everything again which adds even more stress to your puppy. Ask your vet what you can do to stabilize the puppy and if your vet will show you what procedures to follow to help your puppy regain its health. If your baby can be with you, this will be the best solution. As a new mother, you need to make sure that you consider the proper decisions to alleviate any unwarranted stress as possible. If the vet feels that IVs are necessary, please have them consider SQ method if possible, which would be less stressful. You and your vet will need to make the decisions together. If you puppy is left in the care of the veterinarian and his/her staff, find out if someone will be caring for the baby personally; if food will be spoon-fed to your baby should it not want to eat; visit the location where your baby will be cared for (is it a warm, cozy comfortable place?) Do everything possible to insure your baby gets as good as care as if you were there.
Please have your veterinarian and staff feed your puppy a/d along with yogurt if possible; also a good microbiotic such as Benebac or FastTrack is a MUST. This will help your puppy regain its strength and vitality much quicker and keep the digestive system running smoothly.
9) PLEASE EMAIL ME OR CALL ME IF A SITUATION ARISES. I will do my best to follow through with all the help I can provide to help you and your veterianarian care for your new baby.
We want you to seriously consider the choice of one of our tiny teacups or toys. They may only weigh 1/2 to 1 # at 8 weeks of age. We will usually keep them longer than the 8 weeks, when most puppies are ready to go to new homes. Please be patient with waiting for your puppy. Our veterinarian will help us make decisions on the appropriate times that the tiny teacups or toys are ready to travel to their new homes. We will do our very best to make sure that your puppy is sound and in good health to survive its trip and reconditioning to its new home. However, should your baby experience some of the above problems, it will be necessary for you and your veterinarian to work closely together through the issues of hypoglycemia. We have found that transporting a baby back to us is not the appropriate means to pursue as it only adds extreme stress to an already stressed puppy. NOT GOOD!!
THESE PREMIUM TINY TEACUPS AND TINY TOYS ARE EXTREMELY CUTE, LOVABLE AND A PERFECT POCKET-PUPPIES -- BUT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO TAKE CARE OF ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES. ONCE MATURED, THEY ARE AS DURABLE AS ANY OTHER PUPPY. BUT THEY ARE THE PREMIES!!!